Without Law 12

by Eric Vall

  “Or rather, what they're too scared not to do,” Anna said.

  “So tomorrow make sure you keep an eye on the guards we work with,” Tara said.

  “Good plan, ladies,” I congratulated them with a smile. “We don’t want to have to kill any innocents. Enough blood has already been shed because of Brody, let’s not add to that.”

  “Unless it’s his,” Tara muttered.

  “We’ll get to that,” I told her, then I took a pull of whiskey and passed the bottle to Marla who sat beside me.

  “You’re in for a long day tomorrow, it seems,” Betty said.

  “They’re always in for a long day,” Rolly said with a proud, fatherly grin. “It’s what they’re best at.”

  “Thanks, old timer,” I told him. “How’s things at the farm?”

  “Everything got watered plenty today,” Betty said. “Now we just continue to water and fertilize and wait to see results.”

  “Do you all need to be over there tomorrow?” I asked.

  “I planned on heading that way at least for a couple of hours just to check on things,” Betty said. “But I don’t think it’s necessary.”

  “Great,” I said. “I think everyone should stay here tomorrow. Take the cows and horses out to the field and let them munch all day. The girls and I will be gone for a good portion of the day, and I don’t want anyone away from campus when we aren’t here right now. Brody doesn’t know where we live, but I still want everyone here and accounted for.”

  “I understand,” Betty said. “We’ll stay close to home.”

  “Sophia could probably use some positivity around too,” Bailey said.

  “And some extra attention to how she’s feeling,” Paige added.

  “We’ll take good care of her,” Marla assured us, “just focus on getting the sonofabitch that did this.”

  “Damn, Marla!” Tara laughed.

  “What?” the dark haired woman asked.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you cuss,” Bailey said.

  “It was pretty badass,” Tara said.

  “Not badass,” Marla said sternly. “Just necessary. This Brody character is a sonofabitch, there’s no better word I can think of to describe such a monster.”

  Me, either, I thought, and I took the last swig of the whiskey bottle.

  Chapter 8

  The next morning we all woke well before dawn and got dressed in silence. It was a strange feeling to not have Winchester in the room with us when we woke up, but Bailey had let him stay with Sophia the night before.

  Betty had found an empty room for the new woman to stay in. We had brought her dinner the night before, but she had declined to come outside and eat with everyone. Instead, she ate up in her room, but we made sure she had plenty of food, water, and blankets so she was comfortable. Tara even brought her up some chocolate. The platinum blonde had wanted to bring her wine, but Marla told her to hold off on that for a few days.

  Paige had checked in on the girl after we had finished our dinner, and she said she was asleep once more. I wasn’t surprised considering the trauma she had been through. It was easy to sleep for days when your life had been turned upside down.

  After we were all dressed we headed downstairs to the common room on the floor that Marla stayed, and we found her already awake. She sat on the couch and read a book, but she looked up as we entered the room.

  “Hey,” I whispered, scared to wake up everyone else in the dorms. “How’s she doing this morning?”

  “I checked in on her just a few minutes ago,” Marla said. “There was a small amount of blood, but we got her cleaned up and she’s back in bed.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Is she alright?”

  “Yeah,” Anna added, “blood doesn’t sound good.”

  “Especially not with how much she lost yesterday,” Bailey said with a frown.

  “She’s doing just fine,” Marla said.

  “A little bit of excess blood today would be expected,” Paige said. “It’s not easy for the body to just stop bleeding all at once.”

  “Right you are,” Marla said, and she gave Paige a proud smile.

  “You’ll stay with her today?” Tara asked, and she glanced nervously at the door that Sophia was behind.

  “I promise I’ll take good care of her,” Marla said, and she gave Tara’s hand a squeeze. “Now go on, you all have work to do today.”

  “Right you are,” I repeated her earlier phrase. “Thanks, Doc.”

  “Of course,” she said with a nod.

  I led the girls downstairs and found Rolly and Betty up as well. There was coffee on the table, and meat, potatoes, and eggs laid out as well.

  “Hey,” I said as I took a seat. “I figured you guys would sleep in a bit today since you’re staying on campus.”

  “Can’t change years of programming,” Betty chuckled. “Sometimes I think you forget that I was a farmer before you were born.”

  “I guess I do,” I laughed.

  “Coffee?” Rolly asked.

  “Always,” Tara sighed.

  “You all have a long day ahead of you,” Rolly said as he poured us each a cup. “I know yesterday took its toll. Hell, I wasn’t even totally sure what happened, and I was still upset. Anyway, I just want you to be careful out there. I know you will be, but we all love you and need you around here.”

  “We love you, too, Rolly,” Bailey said with a sweet smile.

  “Love you, Rolly,” Tara said, “and Betty, too.”

  “Of course we love both of you,” Paige said.

  “Don’t worry, oldtimer,” I said, “I’ll take care of them.”

  “I know you will,” he said, and he passed me my cup of coffee.

  “Now make your plates,” Betty said with a gesture at the small stack of dishes at the end of the table.

  “Thanks, Betty,” Anna said. “And thanks for the coffee, Rolly.”

  “Anytime,” the old man said, and he nodded and tipped his cup to the redhead.

  We made our plates and ate quietly while Rolly read a book and Betty worked on crocheting a blanket. It was a quiet morning, which was somewhat unusual for the old dorm building. Typically when we were up there were laughs and jokes and plenty of chatting, but not that morning.

  The events of yesterday had definitely cloaked everyone with a sheen of seriousness. It was hard to laugh and joke when you knew that someone had gone through so much pain.

  I hoped that Sophia would come out of her room while we were gone, I thought that meeting Rolly might be a good thing for her. He had helped the girls adjust after the EMP, and we called him our team mascot for a reason. He exuded a sort of calmness that was difficult to ignore, and if you sat with him long enough you’d find that you had been pulled into the calmness with him.

  I hated to see my girls so upset still, but it was going to be a difficult day. They had to pretend that they knew nothing about what Brody did to Sophia, and I had warned them the night before that it was probably best to act like we didn’t even know her name. If Brody asked, and I was sure that he would, then I’d tell him that she passed out in the jeep on the way to Marla and there was nothing we could do.

  It was up to the girls and I to play it cool and get the job done. All the while we’d pay close attention to Brody’s lackies and how they responded to him. We needed to be sure that these men wouldn’t die for him, because if they would, then that could cause a problem. I didn’t want to have to shoot innocent civilians who had been brainwashed and tortured to think that Brody was their one true leader. That just didn’t sit right with me. The civilians at the fort had worked hard to keep it running, and they deserved to reap the benefits once Brody was out of the picture.

  I knew damn well that the ex-Ranger hadn’t done any of the farming, fishing, or hunting since he assembled a crew to do it for him. I also knew that he ate like a king every night while the citizens there ate bread and soup like it was the damn 1800s.

  The way Brody ran that place ha
dn’t set well with me since the moment I sat down to dinner with him the first time, but I had let it slide up until now.

  Not after we took care of these meth dealers.

  It was time that the civilians there were able to enjoy the comforts they worked so hard to provide for Brody and Brody alone. I couldn’t imagine hunting and cooking for someone else, only to be told that I didn’t deserve to eat at the same table.

  It really was like the 1800s. Brody wanted to be their king, and he wanted everyone else to be a filthy peasant that bowed down to him. It just wasn’t right.

  Still, we had to get through the day before we could get back to the fort to help the civilians. It would be hard to look Brody in the face and not put a bullet between his eyes, but I told myself that time would come soon enough.

  After we finished breakfast, Rolly gave us some thermoses filled with coffee and we thanked him and Betty and headed out to the jeep. Once again we drove the jeep we had taken from the druggies since the one we got from the refinery still had a hole in the muffler.

  It was still dark out when we made it to the vehicle, and I quickly opened the back door and put the seat back up. There was blood on the back of them from the day before, and I didn’t want the girls to have to see it. Once that was done I threw my rifle in the back seat, along with my bag, and the girls followed suit before they hopped into the jeep and I turned the ignition.

  “Dear god, somebody say something,” Tara said after we had been on the road for a few moments.

  “What do you want us to say?” Paige asked.

  “I don’t know!” the platinum blonde exclaimed. “Anything is better than this silence.”

  “I didn’t realize it bugged you,” Paige said.

  “Yeah,” Bailey agreed. “I like the quiet sometimes.”

  “Quiet’s fine,” Tara said, “but this isn’t just regular quiet. This is quiet because everyone’s still upset.”

  “Aren’t you?” Anna asked.

  “Of course, I am,” Tara said, “but we have to act normal around Brody.”

  “That’s true,” I said. “I was just thinking about how difficult it was going to be today.”

  “We’re normal,” Bailey said.

  “Really?” Tara asked, and I saw her raise an eyebrow in my rearview.

  “Okay, maybe we’re a bit quieter than usual,” Bailey admitted.

  “Yeah,” Tara said. “So let’s go over the plan once more or something.”

  “Good idea,” I said. “What’s our first move?”

  “We’re going to get into position and take out the guys in the guard towers,” Paige said.

  “Correct,” I agreed.

  “And what are we doing after that?” Anna asked.

  “Everybody but Bailey climbs down from the towers and takes their position at the perimeter,” Tara said.

  “Do you guys think we should wait and do this once we’re with Brody’s group?” Bailey asked.

  “You know,” Anna said, and she bit her lip, “that’s not a bad idea. I don’t know if I trust those guys to know the plan.”

  “They weren’t even there when we made it,” Paige said.

  “I doubt Brody went over it well with them,” I agreed.

  “There was a lot going on yesterday, obviously,” Tara said, “so I didn’t get to say anything about it, but none of those dudes looked like they were ready for this.”

  “I don’t know,” Bailey said, “that big one could probably take out a couple of guys, don’t you think?”

  “We fight with guns and knives,” Tara said.

  “You should know better than anyone that size doesn’t matter when you have the right weapon,” I said and I smiled at the hippie girl through the rearview mirror.

  “I guess that’s true,” Bailey said, and she looked down and blushed.

  “We already knew that this would be a problem,” I said. “If it comes down to it I have faith that you girls can handle yourselves.”

  “You mean if we have to save these guys’ asses,” Tara said dryly.

  “Or do their work for them,” Anna added.

  “That’s exactly what I mean,” I chuckled. “You’ve been trained for this. You’ve experienced this kind of combat. Those guys look like they’ll probably duck at the first sign of trouble.”

  “It was pretty sad the way they all looked so dejected,” Paige said. “They were definitely afraid to say anything.”

  “We’ll wait to go over the plan with the new guys,” I said. “But let’s try not to be so hard on them, they are putting their lives on the line today, and I don’t think they have much experience in that department.”

  “When you look at it that way it’s pretty brave of them,” Bailey said with a smile.

  “Yes, it is,” I agreed.

  I looked out to the morning sky. The sun had finally broken the horizon and the dawn lit the world with oranges, blues, and pinks. I rolled the window down slightly and took a deep breath. The air was cool and wet with the early spring morning, and I told myself that we’d make the best of the day that we could.

  I always worried before a mission, and today was no different, but I knew my girls and I knew what they were capable of. Even if Brody’s team was no help to us at all, my girls and I would be able to get the job done. It’d be a lot easier with a few extra guys, that was true, but if it came down to it my team was ready to fight as hard as we could to protect the community we had created.

  I took a sip of the coffee that Rolly had sent with us, and I remembered my days as a Ranger. I had a similar feeling before missions even then. I was anxious, but in the best way possible. A little bit of nerves always helped me focus. Once your adrenaline was going the nerves helped you become hyper focused so you made less mistakes.

  When things got really serious I often saw it go down in slow motion, something that not everyone was capable of doing. It wasn’t something you trained for, your mind either had that response or didn’t, but if it did then that meant that you were far more likely to get out of a dangerous situation alive. That strange phenomenon had saved my ass more than once in the field.

  It wasn’t long before we were nearly to Lebanon. I followed the same roads that Paige had led us down the time before, and eventually I spotted the alcove that we had stayed at.

  “We’re here,” I said as I slowed the jeep.

  “Let’s do this,” Anna sighed.

  “Fuck ‘em up, buttercup,” Tara said.

  “What?” Paige laughed.

  “I don’t know,” the platinum blonde chuckled. “It’s just a phrase, like, let’s get this shit done.”

  “I get what it means,” Paige said, “it’s just particularly funny because you named your horse buttercup.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Tara giggled. “I didn’t even think about that.”

  I pulled into the alcove and parked. It was good that the girls shared a laugh before we stopped, it meant they would appear more normal to Brody, which was far less suspicious than their strangely quiet demeanor earlier.

  Brody was already there when I pulled in. He had a jeep parked at the back of the alcove with the back open, and he and his men sat in the trunk and smoked cigarettes. When he saw us he gave us a small wave before he blew smoke out of his mouth and threw the cigarette onto the ground.

  “I didn’t realize Brody was a smoker,” Bailey said.

  “I didn’t, either,” I agreed. “I didn’t see him smoke the whole time we were at the fort.”

  “Where did he even get cigarettes?” Tara asked. “Everywhere is always cleaned out.”

  “I don’t know,” I said, and then I turned to look at my girls. “You all ready?”

  “As ready as we’ll ever be,” Paige said.

  “That’s ready enough,” I told her. “You can do this.”

  “Don’t shoot him in the face,” Tara said with a nod.

  “Right,” I agreed. “At least not right now.”

  I flashed the girls a quick sm
ile, then I hopped out of the jeep and made me way toward Brody.

  “Morning,” he said.

  “Hey,” I greeted him and his men. “I didn’t realize you smoked, Brody?”

  “Only on occasion,” Brody said.

  “What’s the occasion?” Tara asked.

  “Seeing you all, of course,” he laughed. “And we’re about to take out this outpost. It seems like a pretty good day to me.”

  “Speaking of,” I said, “we should probably get started.”

  “Right,” Brody agreed, “but first, how’s the girl you all took yesterday?”

  I felt my jaw set at the fact that he didn’t even use her name. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t know it in the first place, but this was no time to act like I knew anything. He was watching, and I knew he’d pick up on anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

  “I’m sorry to say that she didn’t make it,” I told him, and just for good measure I put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “I’m really sorry, buddy.”

  “I see,” he said with a nod, and he scanned the faces of the girls behind me. I just hoped they hid their emotions well. “Did she say anything before she passed?”

  “No,” Anna said, “she was gone before we made it to help.”

  “She died in the car?” he asked.

  “Sadly, yes,” Paige said, and she pushed her glasses up on her nose. “She passed out and just… didn’t wake up.”

  “Sorry to hear it,” Brody said, but I didn’t buy it for a second.

  I had known that he would ask about Sophia, he had to, she had information that he definitely didn’t want getting out. The worst part was that people who thought they weren’t doing anything wrong didn’t care what people knew about them, it was the ones who knew right from wrong but still chose the side of wrong that were concerned with what others thought of them. Brody knew this shit was wrong, but he did it anyways, and now he was trying to cover his own ass by making sure that Sophia hadn’t told us the truth about him.

  I wanted to tell him that he was a sonofabitch, but I had to hold my tongue, at least for the moment. It bugged the hell out of me though that he didn’t even look saddened whatsoever when I told him that she had died.